Dali Museum (Cultural Site 1)

About an hour north of Barcelona you will find the small windy town of Figueres where the famous artist Salvador Dali lived.  Upon entering the town you can feel how small it is and it seems that everybody knows everyone else living in the town.  Perhaps this strange yet familiar feeling is what accounted for Dali's uniqueness in everything he did.  Dali is known for his surrealist artwork that evokes thoughts people have never encountered and unlocks parts of our brains that have never been used.  Although Dali seemed eccentric and full of happiness, his life was full of hardship.  Before Salvador Dali's birth his parents had a son before him who was named Salvador Dali as well.  After the first born's death, the parents conceived again and named the boy Salvador Dali after their first child, this was the child who would grow to be a tortured yet brilliant artist.  It's no secret that being named after his dead brother had a great effect on Dali's psyche.  He felt unwanted and unloved because his parents named him after the son they lost, it was like Dali was the replacement.  Although, his life was full of pain it gave him the inspiration and imagination to create the many masterpieces Dali has.

The Dali museum in Figueres houses some of Dali's most famous works which the public can view.  My experience there was amazing and I would highly recommend it to those who are willing to make the short trip to Figueres.  I do enjoy art but I have not been to many museums, but the Dali museum was one of my best experiences at a museum.  The museum has many different floors containing different pieces of Dali.  Upon entering the museum the floors and sections where the paintings reside are all numbered so that you can follow a path leading you throughout the entire museum.  One of the most interesting pieces is Dali's reincarnation of May West.  Of course there was a queue you had to stand in before viewing the piece but it was well worth it.  Using a large pair of lips that look like a sofa, two abstract paintings for the eyes, a nose, and lots of blond hair, Dali allows you to gaze through a distorted lens that ties all these random things together into a beautiful surreal piece of art that was modeled after the celebrity May West.

The Dali museum located in the town of Figueres was a very interesting place to visit and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to have a cultural experience while in Spain.  Before visiting the museum I only knew a few things about Dali and his life, but after the visit I was extremely informed on his lifestyle, upbringing, and genre of art he created.